There’s been a lot of films lately in which romance and memory are explored in interesting and ambitious ways. Wander Darkly certainly doesn’t hold back ambitiously, director Tara Miele pulls out all the stops but unfortunately the film is cluttered and hard to gather. 

Wander Darkly doesn’t have the romantic chemistry or sensibility of that of Little Fish, a recent film with similar thematic ideas. The film doesn’t have the undeniably admirable sense of ambition that last years Flashback had and it certainly doesn’t come together as strongly as Eternal Sunshine (it’s most frequently mentioned comparative piece). The film has persistent aims that don’t come together thanks to some glaring script issues, the film never figures out when to provide time to build character and the pacing suffers. After a major plot point takes place in the first ten minutes the film never found a consistent or comprehensible tone. 

Diego Luna and Sienna Miller have sound chemistry but individually they feel like they’re in entirely different films. Miller has a weighty role and she is as believable as the film allows her to be. At times it felt like I was watching a collection of student shorts as a result of the films rushed plot and cluttered visual style. While the film has glimmers of class Wander Darkly is much less than the sum of its parts.